Robot Claw

Pandamonium

December 23rd, 2023

We visited Ueno zoo today, to see these guys:

That’s Xiao Xiao and Lei Lei, the twin pandas born at the zoo in 2021. They were indeed cute as they sat and ate bamboo in the sun but what I found even more fascinating was the crowds there to see them.

For starters we arrived about a half hour before the park opened – not too unusual for us since we’re early risers – only to find a lengthy line ahead of us. It was quickly apparent that this was no random zoo line, and judging by the vast array of Panda-themed clothes, jewelery and accessory items, this bunch was here to see Pandas as well!

Secondly the line was very carefully managed to allow each guest exactly 2 minutes of panda viewing after which they were herded away by a man with a big stick (and yes I mean that literally). Naturally everyone followed the rules and it all went smoothly, and we only had to wait 30 minutes to see the beasts.

Thirdly the cameras were insane. These days we rarely see anyone with actual cameras since we all use our phones and that’s because all the cameras are at Ueno zoo with Panda groupies. The line was mostly middle-aged women and it seemed at least half had large digital SLRs with 30cm telephoto lenses and attachments to hold phones and other devices. It was madness.

For their part the pandas took the attention in their stride and kept munching their bamboo, and as you can see I was able to get fine photos with just my phone! After a time we too grew bored and moved on to the rest of the zoo, which was fun if a little simplistic and dated.

After lunch we went to Tokyo Dome City with a specific plan that sadly did not come to fruition. However we didn’t give up and we’ll try again tomorrow, so watch this space!

Two interesting ‘only in Japan’ purchases to round your day:

That is a strange little custard-filled mochi that was packed with a foil sticker from the series Hololive. Kristin ate this, and said it was ‘pretty good’.

And this was a bath bomb that melted away to reveal an UMA inside (I got a jackalope). Japan has a fascination with UMAs and OOPs and all things supernatural but that’s a blog post – nay a weekly blog series – unto itself 🙂

Posted in Miscellaneous, Trip | Comments Closed

In Japan

December 22nd, 2023

We’re back in Japan! It’s a long ‘no plans’ trip but you can bet we’ll fill it with all sorts of fun. We arrived yesterday evening and today was the ‘get over jetlag’ day. Here’s the view from our 11th floor hotel room in Asakusa:

We had sushi for dinner last night:

And Italian for lunch today:

And – even though we had planned to wait until later – we bought loads of stuff today as well 🙂

Sorry for the short first post. As I said, the jetlag hasn’t yet passed. Stay tuned for much more these next two weeks!

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That Pintoo Advent Calendar

December 19th, 2023

Because it was so astonishingly good, here’s a followup as to what was in the Pintoo advent calendar I blogged about a while back.

You already saw the first day (a ‘postcard’ puzzle). There was also four tiny puzzles with a ‘swole Santa’ theme like the example above.

There were two slightly larger puzzles that came with frames. The art on these was reminiscent of the game Cuphead. They are bright and colorful and were easy to assemble.

Look at this luggage tag! Because these are plastic puzzles and go together well I think there’s even a chance this could survive a trip without breaking apart.

There were two spherical Christmas decoration puzzlea. These are about 2 inches in diameter and were a bit tricky to assemble due to the small size.

There were four magnet puzzles that utilized a clever frame to add the magnet to the back of the puzzle. I liked these a lot!

Perhaps most impressive was this piece of wall art. It was assembled in a t-shape and then the edges were folded 90 degrees and connected together to make a 3D framed piece that now hangs on our wall (it’s about 15 cm per side). I’d love for them to make larger puzzles using this clever frame technology!

This 360 piece puzzle was distributed between 6 of the boxes and assembled in parts. It has ‘secret’ elements only visible when it is held up to the light. This was a bit tricky to assemble due to the dark colours.

And last but certainly not least was another (larger) spherical puzzle that came with a lit base! This would make for a nice centerpiece for a Christmas table.

So all in all, a phenomenal advent calendar that I got for an insanely low price ($20!) and that I hope they do again in 2024.

Also I know it’s only December 19 and some of you are possibly thinking I’m a rogue for having opened all the days already but we’re heading to Japan tomorrow and I wanted to finish the calendar before we leave 🙂

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The Nugget Buddy

December 18th, 2023

I got a nugget buddy!

That’s the box it came in. You can get two different meals: Big Mac and Nuggets. I didn’t actually eat the food (JK and DH did) but I bought it since the nugget buddy was for me!

Here’s the sealed blind box it came in. There’s six (and maybe a secret seventh?) available. Which one would I get?

It’s cutely wrapped inside as if it’s a burger! And what’s that I see? A trading card of the figure. So it’s a buddy and a card?! Here’s what I got:

And here’s Brrrick himself:

Isn’t he horrible? I hate him! Maybe he’s cuter if I remove his outfit?

Nope, he’s even more repellant! I can’t wait to display him in my office at work forever 🙂

Oh, and I actually have a second still-sealed buddy. Who wants it?

Posted in Art, Collecting, Food | 4 Comments »

The Strong

December 16th, 2023

We’re in Rochester for an early Christmas and today visited The Strong museum. We’ve been here before but they’ve had a major expansion so it was time to see the new attractions.

This included a massive room housing the Video Game Hall of Fame, as well as a fantastic interactive exhibit on gaming in general. We played lots of games and had a lot of fun but it was the many, many displays of toys and games and associated paraphernalia that I particular enjoyed. Here’s a selection of only a few of the interesting things we saw:

That’s a prototype table for the official Lord Of The Rings pinball, as well as the actual (playable) table on the right.

Here’s the Vectrex 3D accessory, which is famously rare. I’ve never seen one, much less a boxed one!

The above are two examples of overproduced Atari cartridges once buried in New Mexico. Long considered an urban legend, this was proven to be true after they were dug up a few years ago and the city donated a few to the museum.

An actual World of Warcraft server ‘blade’ that housed one of the realms for several years! This is physically about as big as a skateboard.

An actual Atari store display from the early 1980s, stocked as how it would have been in those days. I wanted to grab one of the catalogues!

The above is a fascinating item. Those of us that have been around for a certain vintage recall these home-packaged games but to think this one has survived for so many years!

An original piece of hand-painted art that was scanned and used as a backdrop for an early Leisure Suit Larry game! They also had other prototypes and original art examples, including of consoles and arcade games.

Speaking of original art, that’s a hand-drawn sketch of Sonic The Hedgehog done by the original designer!

A lcd game based on those Japanese ‘nammeyano‘ delinquent cat art photos from the 1980s. This is an example of how varied the museum collection is. (Needless to say I’m not showing any of the vast display of more common game or toy items.)

Esoterica like the above I love seeing: an ancient McDonald’s happy meal box (from the late 1980s) and a series or Japanese World of Warcraft scratch-off cards that came with meals over a decade ago!

Or this unopened box of Pac-Man candy. This (which is about the size of a playing card) is 40-odd years old.

And some Donkey Kong ‘action figures’. I imagine the one on the right wasn’t a big seller!

A variety of game-related books. I’d love to read the two on the left, and last year I actually bought and sent the calculator one to Bernard!

Bridging video games and other pastimes, look at these two sets! Kristin recalls she even had the one on the right and put them on her bedroom door.

Here’s some rpg miniatures from decades ago. The grenadier ones even came painted! They also had lots of early D&D products and even an original photocopy of one of the earliest design documents co-written by Gygax and Arneson!

Look at this absolutely beautiful (not to mention unusual) board game based on the BBC Narnia series! I’d love to play this one.

A Wonder Woman trio: artwork for an unmade Atari pinball, a box of colorforms and a funky looking record with ‘songs and stories’ on it.

This is a talking doll invented by Edison and produced in the late 1800s! It’s a little retro-futuristic isn’t it? It’s also in extraordinary condition for something that is over 130 years old. I wonder if it still talks?

Speaking of dolls, the above is apparently the world’s most glamorous ‘teenage doll’. This is another fantastic condition and sealed-in-box item that is decades old and full of nostalgia.

Can you guess who the above doll is? It’s a pretty good likeness for when it was released (the 1970s)…

The above toy set of ‘missiles’ was released in 1958 and appears to be cardboard cutouts. I googled this and it was popular and rereleased (and updated to plastic) several times into the 1970s! What boy wouldn’t want to play with world-destroying nuclear missiles?

The museum was incredible, and there’s so much to see. It’s bigger and better than ever and I’m glad we visited it again. I hope you liked seeing some of the many wonders we saw.

Posted in Art, Blog, Books, Books & Comics, Games, Retro, Toys | 2 Comments »